India, June 8 -- Newly appointed municipal commissioner Naval Kishore Ram has scrapped the Rs.148-crore sweeping tender approved by his predecessor, Rajendra Bhosale. The decision was taken during his first Standing Committee meeting on Friday evening, following sustained opposition from several citizens' groups and organisations.

The move is being viewed as an acknowledgement that the tender cleared under Bhosale's administration may have been flawed. Despite concerns raised by activists and civic groups, the previous commissioner had gone ahead with the tender approval.

One of the vocal critics, the Apale Pune organisation, had called for the tender to be cancelled. BJP leader Ujwal Keskar was also critical of the previous administrat...